


thinner than

by Yuki1014o



Category: One Piece
Genre: Character Study, Gen, One Piece Chapter 986 Spoilers, Post Chapter 986, Relationship Study, Wano Arc (One Piece) Spoilers, Yamato disowned you, step it up Kaido
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-18
Updated: 2020-08-18
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:00:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25963984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yuki1014o/pseuds/Yuki1014o
Summary: “So,” Yamato says, and leans against the wall casually. Like her blood isn’t molten beneath her skin, like her head hasn’t been spinning and buzzing for the past few hours, like the ache of betrayal hasn’t craved itself deep into her chest. “The cuffs thing.”(Yamato and Kaido have a Talk.)
Relationships: Kaido & Yamato (One Piece)
Comments: 24
Kudos: 68





	thinner than

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like I should explain my pronoun choice. I am NOT against trans people. I do, for example, respect O-Kiku's Pronouns. I am, however, personally in the camp that Yamato truly identifies as female, and the whole "son" thing is out of Yamato's deep admiration and want to be like Oden. That seems to be what was implied in canon, thus I'm going to use female pronouns.

“So,” Yamato says, and leans against the wall casually. Like her blood isn’t molten beneath her skin, like her head hasn’t been spinning and buzzing for the past few hours, like the ache of betrayal hasn’t craved itself deep into her chest. “The cuffs thing.”

“I told you they’d explode,” Kaido (Kaido. Kaido. Not Dad.) says, expression stony, stormy, and does he feel it, too? Does he know that something between them has broken, fallen apart form the seams, shattered into jagged pieces?

Yamato bites into her lip, tries to find some calm in the taste of iron. Digs her nails into her palms, draws blood there, too. She won’t cry, she _won’t_. She’s cried already, so much that her eyes ache and sting. “I didn’t think you _meant_ it.”

Her voice is thick with hurt, a little wobbly, a little heartbroken. Does he hear that, would it matter if he did?

“I never say anything I don’t mean,” Kaido tells her, toned edged with something angry, something threatening, and Yamato tries not to wince. She _knows_ that. Of course she knows that, but was it really so wrong for her to _hope?_

A beat.

The silence is thick, oppressive, presses down on her shoulders and her tongue and she doesn't know what to say to that. Yell, maybe? But she’s done that already. The air is frosty in her lungs, sharp in her already raw throat. She shifts, the wall crumbles a little. Aftermath from the fighting.

( _The_ _S_ _trawhats are still alive, the_ _Red S_ _cabbards are still alive, no one is dead, they’re coming back for round two,_ she keeps this knowledge close to her heart. Kaido doesn't know. She won’t tell him. This is just another secret, like Oden’s logbook.)

“It wouldn’t have killed you,” he eventually says, like that would make it any _better_. It might not have killed her _now_ , but she was wearing those things for twenty _goddamn_ years and they would have killed her when she was eight. Even now they would have blown off her arms, would have flayed the skin right off her whole chest and face.

She won’t cry. She _won’t_.

Yamato has been preparing herself for this since childhood, been waiting for the thread of trust between them to fray until it snaps. And it never did, it never did. _Yes_ , he imprisoned her. _Yes_ , he once beat her so hard that she was unconscious for a full month. Yes, yes, yes. But he was still her father; he killed her mother but he didn’t kill _her_.

He locked away her freedom, he kept her from her dreams, tried to tear them apart. But Yamato’s held strong and hasn’t given in, and at some point Kaido had to accept them. He never liked them, never supported them, but he _respected_ them. She must be the only one in the whole world that Kaido (Strongest Creature Kaido, Kaido of the Beasts, Kaido her _dad—_ ) has ever given ground to.

She didn’t think he’d _actually—_

Yamato bites clean through her lip, blood shining vivid crimson in the light of dawn, stark against the garden stones. Kaido’s eyes flick down to the droplets. His own blood is smeared against the stone.

She tries not to linger on those rusting reds. She isn’t a child anymore, she won’t stare at Kaido’s blood like it’s something impossible, inconceivable, a miracle. There was a time where she had never seen him harmed, had never seen his skin nicked, where she thought he was invincible, perfect, the pinnacle of everything great in the world.

That time is past.

“I’ll fight you one day,” Yamato tells him, and the raw fleshy skin where her cuffs used to reside itches almost unbearably. “I’ll win. And I won’t give you death, I’ll leave you in a ditch, I’ll let you live with your honor broken and your dreams unattainable.”

The best thing is she means it, the worst thing is she means it.

“You can try,” Kaido says, and Yamato braces herself but no hit comes. Perhaps it’s mercy. (Hah!)

She breathes in, breathes out. Closes her eyes, opens them. There’s a hint of something ineligible on Kaido’s face. Fondness maybe, or perhaps interest, maybe still thinks of her as a daughter. He must have considered her a daughter once, at _least_ once. Maybe that’s just how he is, maybe he would kill his own daughter.

But she doesn't and won't ever consider someone that would kill her as a father. Maybe he’s alright with a daughter that would kill him, though. Maybe his head was never so full of _maybe this can work, maybe we can make this work, maybe we can fix this_. Maybe he never thought anything was broken.

Maybe maybe maybe.

“You aren’t my father anymore,” she says, and lifts herself from the crumbling wall and stands tall. Then Yamato _glares_ , glares with everything he’s ever taught her. “When I defeat you I won’t be defeating my father.”

A beat.

Kaido is smiling, just a little. Lips slightly tilted, eyes crinkled just a little at the edges. It’s more genuine than the grins he gives when he’s hopelessly drunk. Is she okay with that? Is she alright with that? That _this_ is what she has to do to make him at all proud of her?

“If you do,” he says, and it’s _if_ not _when_ because she has no doubt that he won’t hold back against an opponent like her, who won’t give in, who wears pride and conviction bright and blatant. “Don't look back.”

He says it like he’s still her dad, like he’s still teaching her how to throw punches below the bright sun. Her chest aches.

“I won’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> aww yeah. Been wanting to write this since chapter 986 hit and been waiting to write something similar since Yamato’s reveal with the handcuffs. Kaido and Yamato are both very interesting and striking characters to me (especially Yamato! We’ve had so little time with her yet I already love her so much!) and their relationship is especially fascinating.
> 
> The timeline was kept intentionally vague. It’s set sometime in the future...ish. Lol. I hope that wasn’t too confusing? Anyhow. please don't be shy to leave a comment if you enjoyed! I love feedback and, as usual, constructive criticism is welcome! :)


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